The Sturm-Welt Campaign
by Spartan Inquisitor
Summary: The war with the Covenant has been raging for a quarter of a century. Now the alien Juggernaut has arrived on the Inner Colony of Sturm-Welt. Cut off from the rest of humanity, it is up to the brave souls trapped on the planet to hold out as long as possible.
1. Chapter 1

**This is only a story that I have been working on for some time on and off. For those who have read my other stories do not worry I will not be discontinuing them this is just something that I needed to post.**

 **Halo belongs to 343 industries**

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Sturm-Welt: German for Storm world. An inner colony, the planet was named so because of the massive and devastating storms that ravage the planet during its wet season. For the original inhabitants it was a place of new beginnings, a fresh start on an untamed world. It would not remain so.

Colonized in 2371 by German, Dutch, and Belgian settlers, this Inner Colony developed a rather moderate industrial center as well as a few large farms. By 2384, all cities have been reinforced to withstand the sheer brute force of the planets weather. Most of the larger cities are outfitted by an Urban Infrastructure AI to manage the day to day activities by 2454. In 2486, Misriah Armories is given permission by the Colonial Administration Authority to build a small manufacturing plant in the Danine Province. That same year, construction of the first of three planned orbital tethers begins. It is finished by 2500. During 2507, Insurrectionists begin to subvert the colonies government by spreading ideas of dissent among the populace. The arrival of UNSC forces in '08 ends any ideas of rebellion. Construction on the second tether begins in 2510 and is completed by 2527. By this time the Human-Covenant war had begun.

As an Inner Colony, Sturm-Welt was not in any immediate danger of invasion so most of the population remained unconcerned. The only significant change was the increase in production at the Misriah manufacturing plant, which nearly doubled in size by 2548. As for the day to day events of the planet nothing really changed. That all changed in 2550.

On November 20th, 2550, a small Covenant fleet enters the system. After smashing aside the local UNSC Patrol group, Covenant forces began to land on planet. The Sangheili commander decides not to inform the Covenant High Command of this attack and instead orders a full system wide blackout. Militia, Police, Army Troopers, and surviving Marines from the Patrol do everything in their power to hold the Covenant force back while the planet was evacuated. Unfortunately, the evacuation is impeded by the Covenant fleet in orbit. Only 1 in 12 ships make it off Sturm-Welt.

Five days later a UNSC fleet enters the system and launches a vicious counterattack that drives the alien fleet from Sturm-Welt orbit at the cost of 25% of their strength. After deploying all available ground forces planet side the human fleet reengaged the Covenant. Despite having a numerical superiority, the UNSC fleet was crushed and surviving ships were forced to withdraw. Once the last human ship left the system, The Sangheili commander ordered his last few ships to deploy all of his remaining ground forces, which he declared that he would personally lead, to the planet.

As the flag ship began to enter the atmosphere, UNSC soldiers commandeered the planets main Mass-driver to take it down. Once the Assault Carrier was in position, an impromptu projectile was launched. Said projectile slammed into the Carrier while its shields were down, disabling the ship and knocking it about. A second shot hit the ship's engines, taking it out of the sky. The remaining Covenant ships were quickly eliminated by groundside weapons emplacements deployed at strategic points on the planet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, bet no one thought that I would post a new chapter this soon after starting this story. The truth is, I had this story sitting on my fanfic flash drive for a while now. Originally this and chapter one were supposed to be one chapter. It was only recently that I decided to chop them up into two.**

 **Has defiantly made my life slightly easier. Now don't be expecting such quick updates from now on. this was so far just a one time thing.**

 **Disclaimer: Halo belongs to 343 industries. any characters that are from other franchises belong to their respective owners.**

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Windmolen, Siegfried Province, Sturm-Welt

June 14th, 2552

1500 hours MST

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A Marine sprinted through the street as multiple plasma-bolts shot past him. Looking over his shoulder he saw as squad's worth of Grunts and Drones firing away. Snapping his head forward again, he pressed on along the ruble strewn road. As he came to a t-section, an electronic sign light up with the words **"Keep Right."** Complying with the message, the Marine turned right at the intersection. After a few moments he stumbled on a piece of rubble, narrowly avoiding a Needler crystal.

Growing irritated, the Marine shouted into his comm bead "Arnhem, where am I going?!"

In response, the Marine heard a pre-recorded message said " **ALERT, CHECKPOINT AHEAD**."

The Marine looked up in time to see a grenade fly past his head. He immediately dropped to the ground as a fire-team appeared from behind cover and fired on the alien forces. None of the Grunts or Drones were prepared for the ambush and they were cut down by the fire team. After about a minute, the Marine got back onto his feet and approached his rescuers. According to his IFF, the highest ranking soldier was a Corporal.

The Corporal grinned at the Marine and said "Damn, are you luck that we were here. I'm Corporal Jacob Higgins, 17th Tactical."

The Marine nodded and said "Private Thomas Hipp, Charlie company 12th Marine regiment. Everyone calls me Tom. I'm here under orders from Colonel Toho."

Higgins grimaced slightly and said "Yeah we heard you were coming. We had best get back to our outpost. Covies have an air patrol coming this way in half an hour."

The five soldiers immediately began moving at a brisk jog away from the ambush sight. As they progressed, Tom was able to see the damage to this section to the city. Until now, he had been stationed close to the city Headquarters and had experienced more than his share of air strikes. Here the damage was nowhere near as severe. While some of the buildings had crumbled, most were still standing.

As they approached an intersection, one of the fire-team members, an army Lance Corporal, said "You know, I'm surprised that they sent only one guy on this little op. we got here."

Tom's eyes dropped to the street as he responded with "They didn't."

The . faltered at this and tried to stammer an apology. However, Higgins immediately cut in and told the trooper to get back to watching for enemy forces. Suddenly a terrifying scream filled the air followed by weapons fire. The fire-team dropped down with their weapons raised as they waited for the cause of the commotion to appear. After a minute or so a female marine with two pistols and no helmet came running around the corner, her red hair whipping behind her.

When she saw the other humans she shouted "Take cover, you morons! Fucking take cover!"

Pvt. Hipp and the others exchanged glances at this exclamation. Their curiosity was rewarded by a loud hollow thump, a horrifyingly all too familiar sound to the soldiers. Soon, a green orb flew past, exploding a nearby car. There was only one weapon in the Covenant arsenal that produced that type of projectile and sound, and very few used it. The team immediately assumed the worst and they scrambled for cover as the sound of heavy footfalls approached. Ducking behind an overturned car, Tom waited with baited breath as the footfalls grew louder and the ground began to shake.

Edging towards the front of the car, Tom looked around it to get a better view of the new threat. The fire-teams worst fears were soon realized as a Hunter pair immediately entered the intersection. Both of the towering alien giants smashed aside any debris in their way. Ducking back behind the car, praying to whatever god there was that the walking tanks would just move on. And that was when the day's fortunes turned.

Far off in the distance a series of alarms began blaring, drawing the Hunters attention. The soldiers listened as the Hunters moved away from the area. After several seconds the group came out of hiding, looking for any sign of Covenant forces. Once the area was confirmed to be clear, everyone relaxed.

The new soldier holstered her pistols and said "That was a close one, good thing the city's on our side. Name's Revy, Pfc. Rebecca Lee if you want to be formal."

Higgins immediately asked "Where the hell did those things come from? There aren't supposed to be any Hunters in the city, much less this sector."

"No shit, I noticed." Revy shot back "Best guess is that the Covies dropped 'em in recently."

Higgins nodded in agreement and said "I think it would best if you came with use. No sense in staying out here all on your lonesome."

"Aww, and here I was hoping I could go camping all by myself." the female Marine said sarcastically.

Ignoring the remark, the fire-team once again began their trek to the objective. Not once during their journey did anyone speak for fear of drawing unwanted attention. However, other than having to avoid a phantom, their trek was uneventful. The group soon began to relax a bit, even shooting some light banter back and forth. It was at this point that the weather decided to screw with them. Soon sheets of rain were pouring from the sky. While no one was happy with this, they kept their complaints to themselves. Many of the soldiers had long since gotten used to the abysmal weather of Sturm-Welt, so there was nothing to really get upset about. All around them were signs of the constant fighting that took place on the planet.

After some time, they arrived at their destination. A partially damaged, three story building stood before them. Immediately after checking that the coast was clear, the group ran across to a hole blown into the left side of the building. Higgins, upon entering the building, asked one of the on duty guards where they could find a Sergeant Rawlins. The guards pointed them inside to a room on the far side of the second floor. Heading up a nearby staircase, heading down a poorly lit hall, and through a door at the end, Tom and his compatriots found two soldiers laying prone at the edge of a gaping hole in the wall. Slowly moving forward to where the two lay, Tom crouched and moved to the left side of the hole.

The man next to him, more than likely Sgt. Rawlins, asked "You who they sent out here?"

Tom immediately responded with "Affirmative sir, the rest of my unit was killed on the way in."

Growling in irritation, Rawlins turned his head to the young marine and said "Well that makes things a lot harder. Now I have to send out more people to get the package and escort it to HQ. Fucking great."

Slightly confused at the Sergeant's complaints, Tom asked "Sir, what exactly is the package?"

Instead of answering, Rawlins hand Tom a pair of binoculars and said "20 meters down the road. I really doubt that you can miss it."

Doing as he was told, Tom brought the optical device to his eyes and looked down range. The Sergeant was right when he said that the target was hard to miss. The alien was floating above a destroyed vehicle, fiddling around with a couple of feelers. Its head was rather eel-like, while its body looked like a misshapen parade float.

Lowering the optics, Tom looked back at Rawlins, who said "That thing has been scrounging around for the past 24 hours. Now you're going to go help secure it and take it back to the spooks at HQ."


End file.
